A listless birder

David Bentley

Volunteer and Trustee of the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

It's New Years Day about ten years ago and I'm straining to see through half-light and full-drizzle to see the grebe on the far side of Castle Water. I can hardly make out the bird, let alone any details. After half an hour, the light and weather improves and I start to make sense of the bird. I can see that the bird's forehead is steep, rising up into a 'policeman's-helmet-shaped' head. Other features come into focus and I can now be sure that it's a Black-necked and not a Slavonian Grebe. I feel a surge of disappointment. I've already seen a Black-necked Grebe today and I've 'wasted' time that could've been spent looking for other birds to add to my brand-new Year List. That evening, I look through the long list of birds I've seen that day at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and I'm still vexed that Slavonian Grebe isn't on it.

As the year progressed, I had many great days of birding, but if any day didn't include a 'tick' for my Year List, I was left feeling slightly dissatisfied. Until eventually a penny dropped. I realised that I didn't have to continue with this 'madness'. I decided that I would never do a Year List ever again. And I haven't. And I enjoy my birding so much more.

While I've found that most 'listing' is not for me, I recognise that for many other birders, it's an enjoyable, integral part of their hobby. For many birders, lists are at the very heart of their hobby... year lists, house lists, county lists, patch lists, UK lists, Western Palaearctic lists, TV lists, football ground lists... Lists encourage them to seek out new species, travel to different places and expand their birding knowledge. Their lists drive their enthusiasm to see more. For some 'twitchers' listing becomes competitive, a race to see more birds than others until, for a very few, listing might become the hobby itself.

I do keep one bird list, and that's a Day List, almost every time I go out. I find this keeps me focussed, checking every bird closely in case it's new for the day. It also allows me to put my days findings onto BirdTrack* and helps a tiny bit with monitoring bird populations. But there's no disappointment, because every single day there are loads of 'ticks'!

I now do almost all of my birding within walking or cycling distance of my Rye home, letting the birds come to me, rather than chasing them. Sometimes I wonder if I've gone in on myself. I'm aware that in some ways, I'm limiting my experiences and my birding education. I know I'll see fewer species than many other birders but, for now, that's the way I like it - and how lucky am I that I can walk to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve! I'm certainly not going to criticise other birders for doing things differently, each to their own, I say. I think some form of recording the birds we see is essential and valuable, but whether we are driven by lists or not is up to each birder. We should all find our best way to enjoy birds and let others enjoy them their way.

* BirdTrack is a BTO/RSPB scheme that allows observers to store and manage their own bird records. This country-wide 'citizen science' helps support species conservation. You can find out more about it here.